Grimsby Town manager Michael Jolley says today’s 1-1 draw with Lincoln City in the Lincolnshire Derby in Sky Bet League Two at Blundell Park was a good advert for Lincolnshire football.

The Mariners took the lead through Martyn Woolford’s superb first-half strike before Danny Cowley’s men equalised via a John Akinde penalty with 20 minutes to go.

But Jolley was impressed by his team’s performance in front of 7,201 fans (which included 1,809 Imps supporters) at Blundell Park.

Speaking on iFollow Mariners, he said: “Today was a really good advert for football in Lincolnshire. I think it was a really good derby – the atmosphere was good – credit to both sets of supporters for the way they’ve come and supported their teams today.

“And I’m really proud of my players. We’ve had some indifferent performances at the start of the season, but I’m really happy with the group that I’ve got.

“If we’re given time to develop and improve, then we can do those things, and today I thought we were excellent – I thought we were the better team, and we were unlucky not to win the match.

“Very respectful of Lincoln but, overall, we were happy with our performance and felt we could have won the game.

“I was pleased with the way we passed the ball in the attacking half – we made some good opportunities from inter-play and combination play around the box through Hessenthaler, Woolford, Cook, Hooper, and others, and I think that’s something we can build on.

“The fans have been great and they were really behind us today. We’re pleased because no-one was more upset than us after the Forest Green Rovers game, but we’re improving and building now.

“We’ve played a team that I’m sure will be at the top-end of the table today, and MK Dons will be the same on Tuesday, but it was a promising display today.”